Professor Layton and the Crest of Hearts
by Nocturnea
Summary: Luke's new town is a strange place. It gets even stranger when the police chief is murdered and a series of disappearances occur. To solve this mystery, Luke enlists the help of the professor, and his friends, new and old. Only 'ships are friendships, and some flashbacks of Layton and Claire. Maybe. Anyway, please read for puzzle-solving semi-fun! Perhaps.


_Hi! As I said on my profile, I've been loosely planning this story since I was seven years old. It has a lot of OCs, though mainly just minor extra characters. If any of them become Mary-Sue-ish, please tell me. Thank you! Before and after each chapter, I will put a little skit and some random extra stuff. Sorry if this is annoying to you. Anyway..._

Me: Hello everyone who's reading this. This is my first Professor Layton fanfiction. And here's my favourite character!

Luke: Hello. I'm Luke Triton, and I'm Professor Layton's apprentice number one!

Clive: We know.

Luke: Are you even in this story?

Me: Evidently he is.

Clive: You'll have to wait and see, won't you?

Luke: *sighs* I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Professor Layton or any characters from that series. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it, now would I? This applies to all future chapters, too, since one almost always reads a story starting at the start. Also, specifically for this chapter, I don't own the pinky promise song. If you want to listen to it, it's in episode... four, I think, of Code Geass in the English Dub. And one more thing, I do not own the forum mentioned in the end skit. I regret to tell you I am not entirely certain who does.

Intro: Half a year ago, in December. Luke's arrival

Luke stepped off the boat and looked at his new home. Hanaville, a quiet island named for the large trees endemic to its shores. It was pretty, with several scattered glades of the absolutely enormous trees adding a fairyland-like aura to the buildings. Speaking of the buildings, they looked oddly like gigantic dollhouses. Luke didn't mind, though. He followed his parents to his new house, which was a large blue and white one. He went up to his bedroom, which already had a bed. A very, very soft one. So soft that...zzzzzz... it wasn't too long before Luke fell asleep.

The next day was a Monday, and not in any way a bad one. Luke woke up to bright, if bleak, sunlight streaming in through his open window. Despite the sunny weather, light snowfall lent an enchanting glow to the area. How perfect, Luke thought. A winter wonderland would not be an exaggeration of the town Luke looked at through his window. All that the lack of leaves on the trees did was, if anything, accentuate how good of an early winter day this one was.

"Luke, why don't you go to the school? It's only a few days before the end of term, but a gentleman never passes up an opportunity to learn." Clark suggested later in the morning.

"I guess so." Luke plucked up his bag and walked out the door.

"Luke wait!" Brenda called, but Luke was long gone.

"He forgot his shoes." Clark noted. Brenda sighed.

Luke looked up at the school gates. They reminded him very much of the gates in that creepy old forest on the way to Herzen Castle in Folsense. They also made him miss the professor more. Luke tentatively knocked on the seal in the center of the two gates. Instantly, they creaked open.

"Um... H-hello... A-are you Luke Triton?" A black-haired girl wearing an icy blue dress and a witch hat approached Luke.

"Yes, that's me!" Luke replied. The girl's demeanor changed instantly.

"Okay! Here is a school handbook for you. It has your schedule and a map and othe handbooky stuff. And here," She said, taking a small box out of her pocket, "is a special surprise. Meet me at the flower shop after school to find out more about it, ok? Speaking of school, it starts in ten minutes. I'll see you later!" She ran off before Luke could say anything. Oh well, he thought, I'll just go to class, and I'm sure mom and dad won't mind if I come home a bit later.

Twi hid against a wall, humming a song as she thought about her first encounter with her longtime penpal. That was hard, she thought, and Ned certainly wasn't any help in the matter when I first consulted him. Ned was a grown up who volunteered at the same place she did. She took her volunteer card out of her pocket, thinking on how her boss at her volunteer job had almost been murdered. Memories flooded her, and presently she was living it again, the day not so long ago when Annabel had foiled an assassination attempt on their boss. This "gift" of memory was awfully annoying at times. Then again, since one day it would fulfill her dream, Twi couldn't really complain about that.

It was a lo-o-o-o-o-ong school day for Luke. Long in this case meaning tedious, torturous, and tiresome. For some reason, slim to none of the other students approached him or talked to him. Sighing, Luke opened the box. Inside were a metal bracelet-sized loop with a blue flower-shaped crystal on it and a folded slip of paper. Luke slid the loop onto his wrist and unfolded the note. It read:

"To my dear friend,

Luke,

I'm sorry I took so long in replying to your letter stating your new address.

But, this was a neat way of doing so, don't you agree?

I expect that I forgot to tell you when I delivered this who I am. Well,

to be rather frank, I suspect that I must not have told you many things. For one,

I am almost certain I didn't mention that there are actually three

flower shops in Hanaville. The one I meant is pretty much inside the northeastern-most grove of Hanarion trees. I'm so excited that we finally get to meet!

Sincerely,

Your penpal Tasogare Stacy"

"So that was Twi?" Luke asked himself as he walked towards the flower shop in question. When he got there, he found that it looked like a normal dollhouse-like house, except it was purple and black and quite large. He pushed on the door, and a bell rang as it swung open.

"Hi there!" Two tiny voices greeted in unison. Luke was surprised to see two identical twins, one sitting on the other's shoulders.

"Welcome! I'm Ery..." Ery, the one on top who was wearing a way too big green jacket, started.

"And I'm Evey!" Evey, the bottom one who was wearing a way too big yellow jacket, finished.

"Hello..." Luke replied. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and spun around.

"Wah!?" Luke shouted. Twi giggled.

"Hello to you too, Luke."

"Oh, hi." Luke said.

"So, are you ready to start the tour?" Twi asked.

"My parents are going on a tour. I could just go with them." Luke suggested.

"But this is the fun tour, that goes to all the most fun places and not the places only grown-ups need to go. Plus, you want to find out about the bracelet, don't you?" Twi countered.

"Yeah, I do. So where do we start?" Luke asked.

"Well, first let's go to the museum and see Miss Altava about getting you a volunteer card." Twi stated happily.

"Miss Altava? Emmy's here too?" Luke was, needless to say, but I'll say anyway, very surprised.

"Yep, she's the museum curator. But right now, she should be at her house." Twi explained.

"Are you sure it's okay to go there?" Luke asked.

"Positive. She asks each student to come over once every two weeks so she can check up on our volunteer work." Twi smiled.

"Oh-kay then..." Luke replied.

"Anyway, I missed the time when I was supposed to go last week." Twi said offhand.

"Alright." Luke said.

Emmy's house was a yellow and brown version of every other building in town. It was close to the police headquarters, but quite a hike from the town center plaza. It was fairly close to Icthyo River, on the east side of town. Luke's house was towards the southwest edge of town, so it was one of the farthest points from Emmy's and Twi's houses. While most of the town was west of the Icthyo river, the flower shop was a little past the northeast bank of it. But, I digress. Anyhow, Luke knocked on the door. Emmy answered it.

"Luke! What are you doing here?" Emmy asked.

"I moved here." Luke replied.

"I see. So who's assisting the professor now?" Emmy asked.

"Probably Flora." Luke answered.

"Flora?" Emmy asked. So Luke told the story of the Curious Village of St. Mystere- the full story, not just the newspaper story of how the heir to the Reinhold family fortune found the Golden Apple. Luke wasn't sure how they came up with that story, and he hardly believed how the media gobbled it up. Luke added, as a side note, that he wasn't much for Flora's cooking. A fish and flowers cake came to mind. Blech, Luke thought. He felt like puking just to remember it.

"I see..." Emmy replied.

"So, what are you here for?" Emmy asked.

"Um, miss Altava, do you have any volunteer IDs?" Twi asked.

"Yes, I do. Here." Emmy handed Luke a silver metal case with a paper inside, showing through a hole in the metal.

"When you start volunteering, get an adult from your job to write a little description of what your job is on that piece of paper, ok? Well, I'll see you later!" Emmy said. Luke and Twi walked to an art and office supplies store.

"Next is to paint your name on your ID case." Twi explained.

"Okay! One blue paintbrush-marker please!" Luke handed the man at the store, whose nametag identified him as Woods, a few coins.

"Right away! Oh dear, it seems I've mislabeled these containers. It'll be quite a puzzle to find what you're looking for now, I'm afraid." Woods scratched his head.

"Leave it to me!" Luke exclaimed.

Puzzle 01

Paint Cans

Note: Oh, goody! A puzzle! Do not, I repeat do not, skip to the answer! That would not be gentlemanly/ladylike/Laytonesque at all! Please solve this yourself. Take as many hints as you want out of the four I'll provide, but do not scroll down to when Luke reveals it! And as I cannot stop you, I have decided to reveal it next chapter! You get a special bonus and sneak peek if you review with the correct answer, so that's another reason to solve it. Thanks a bunch, ladies, gentlemen and apprentices! Oh and Don Paolos and Descoles, of course.

Puzzle: You have six boxes of art supplies, all in a messy clump. You are to arrange them according to this set of rules:

-The green box cannot be next to the purple box.

-The purple box is not to the far left or far right.

-No box may be next to its colour opposite.

-The red box must touch the blue box.

-The blue box can only touch the red box, but is not to either far side.

-None of the three secondary colours touch.

- At least one box must be between the yellow and blue boxes.

- No box may be on top of another box.

-The red box does not touch the yellow or orange boxes.

- A primary colour is on the far right.

-A secondary colour is on one edge.

-When properly arranged, the blue paint is in the box fourth from the left. It is not in it's own coloured box.

If you hadn't gathered, the box colours are yellow, red, orange, blue, green, and purple. From left to right, how do you arrange them while following the rules? And what colour box is the blue paint in?

After painting his name onto his ID, Luke and Twi left the store.

"Where next?" Luke asked.

"Since that took longer than expected, let's skip to the surprise!" Twi exclaimed, leading Luke back to the northeastern grove of Hanarion trees. Twi walked over to one and knocked on it, and a section of bark swung open, revealing a tunnel.

"Because Hanarion trees get all their water through a narrow stem in their core, the rest isn't essential to the tree. In other words, a very, very long time ago many of these trees were made into living fortresses. Of course, archaeologists have taken all sorts of artifacts from these, and as you probably know, they're still digging for more. But this one's different. It was cleared out quite long ago, and since there is no more to be learned from it, most people have forgotten about the special place inside. But I haven't, or rather my great-grandfather never did. He gave me the key to it, and told me to only share the secret with a true friend." Twi smiled as she climbed into the tunnel.

"That's... Nice... Say, isn't it a little too dark in here?" Luke asked.

"I don't mind. Do you?" Twi replied.

"No, not at all!" Luke stammered.

The tunnels were quite slippery, and not to mention the tree was very tall. Finally, (and I could not put too much emphasis on that word) they reached a blue door with sunlight streaming in through a hole. Next to it was a rope.

"Ah, finally, the light! THE LIGHT!" Luke exclaimed dramatically, rubbing his eyes. Twi laughed.

"Oh come on Luke, it wasn't THAT dark." Twi pulled the rope and a box came down a little from the ceiling. She inserted her key and a ladder dropped out.

"It most certainly was! Please don't tell me that leads to more tunnels..." Luke pretended to pout, and they both laughed.

"I can honestly say it doesn't." Twi replied as she started to climb.

"Hey, wait for me!" Luke climbed too.

At the top were ornate purple and silver doors surrounded by wood. Twi unlocked the door and opened it, revealing several perennial flowers, a few of which were, oddly, in bloom. A lake was in the middle, with several streams going in different directions.

"This lake feeds streams to each of the tree's branches. Why the water doesn't just go directly through channels throughout the tree, I don't know. I also don't know why the tree still collects water in the winter." Twi stated.

"This is amazing! Like a secret garden or something out of a storybook!" Luke exclaimed.

"I know. But please, Luke, promise to keep this place our secret, okay?" Twi requested, holding out her pinky finger.

"I promise." Luke promised. He clasped his pinky around Twi's.

"Cross my heart, hope to die,

swallow a thousand needles if I lie.

Pinky promise song~" With this song, the promise was made.

Me: So, did you like it?

Luke: Where was the Professor?

Me: Here he comes now! Hi, Professor!

Layton: Good afternoon.

Flora: Hi Luke! It's great to see you again!

Clive: Are you all ignoring me?

Flora: Where's your hat, Luke? Oh wait, I forgot you're not Luke. Eep! *hides behind Layton*

Layton: Now, now, Flora, that's no way for a lady to act.

Flora: But professor, he still hasn't apologized!

Clive: I'm not allowed to at this time. Sorry.

Flora: Are you even in this?

Clive: Like I said, not allowed to say at this time.

Flora: Never mind.

Me: It's nice to see you two getting along.

?: Hello everyone. Sorry we're late.

?: Yes. But we're not allowed to introduce ourselves until next time.

Clive: Well, nice to meet you anyhow.

?: What the?! Clive? Why is he here?

Me: Whoa, whoa. Hold your horses.

Layton: Indeed. In class you are always very calm. Why is this different?

?: Because, I'm so very angry!

?: Cool it.

Luke: Say, according to this script I get to meet you before the Professor visits, but about the other unknown... Are you a boy or a girl?

?: He is a boy.

?: Is it really that ambiguous?

Me: Yes it is.

Luke: Hey Clive, look over here! I found a forum thread that discusses you!

Clive: Really? What do they say?

Luke: Aww... That's so sweet! :D

Clive: I'm a little scared for the professor because of this, but yeah Luke, it is sweet.

Flora: Professor, don't look!

Layton: Now you've gone and piqued my interest. I'll have to go and find this on my spare time.

Me: Please do. I think they'd like that.

Flora, Luke, and Clive: Don't encourage him!

Layton: Just what has gotten you three so riled up? This is quite the puzzle.

Flora: Quick, someone take his piggy bank of hint coins!

Luke: Agreed!

Me: How did this go so oddly? Next time, I won't let Luke onto the computer.

Luke: Awww...

Me: Anyway, please review! If for no other reason than to check your puzzle answer and maybe get the bonus stuff!


End file.
